


White-Haired WTF Guy

by Dawen



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Artist Jack Frost, Gen, Genderfluid Jamie Bennett, Jamie is 13 so he’s totally old enough to travel by himself, Non-Graphic Harassment, Nonbinary Character, Public Transportation Shenanigans, Theater Kid Jamie Bennett, Trans Character, Trans Jack Frost, on public transportation, right? right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27755197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawen/pseuds/Dawen
Summary: Eventually Jamie got so used to the boy always being there, always sharing in Jamie’s surprise and horror, that it wasn’t by accident anymore.He had a weird wtf-look-sharing friendship with a boy he only ever saw on the bus and whose name he didn’t even know. Yeah. At least he wasn’t doing drugs, Mom!(In which a genderfluid kid accidentally makes a friend on the bus, not-so-accidentally saves that friend from unwanted attention, and discovers that they've been trans bros all along.)
Relationships: Jamie Bennett & Jack Frost
Comments: 5
Kudos: 51





	White-Haired WTF Guy

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this prompt](https://dawen.tumblr.com/post/167932166870/beautiful-au) on Tumblr:
>
>> ‘We sit across from each other on the train/tube everyday and I’m not sure how but we’ve ended up with this weird, silent, almost-friendship where we share “wtf” looks when we see another passenger doing something weird or telling a bizarre story and a few times I’ve almost gotten you to break and laugh out loud, but today you’re sitting with someone and I think they must be your boyfriend/girlfriend because they are really in your space, but you shoot me a silent look that clearly screams “get this creep away from me” and I am all for that.’ Au
> 
> except I made it platonic like the rebel I am
> 
> ...also I started this literally three years ago. and finally opened it tonight, read through it, made like two minor edits, went "I don't even remember making them trans in this," and decided to post. so. enjoy!

The first time Jamie saw him was the first time Jamie took the city bus by himself.

It was still really early and Jamie was yawning every five seconds, and he did a classic double take because that boy was way too young to have white hair. Jamie spent an embarrassingly long time being confused before he realized the boy bleached it stark white like that.

In Jamie’s defense, he already said it was early.

The white-haired boy had a drawing pad perched on one knee and a pencil in his left hand, making marks on the straight stretches of road and holding his pencil off the page during the curves and the deceleration parts. Watching him draw reminded Jamie that, oh yeah, he had things to occupy himself with too. But unfortunately those things did not include earbuds, so Jamie got an earful when, three stops after he got on, an older woman started talking on her phone about symptoms of _STDs_ , of all things.

Jamie’s eyes skittered awkwardly over the other passengers, and he happened to make eye contact with the white-haired boy. He wore the same horrified expression Jamie did.

* * *

After that, it seemed like whenever Jamie got on that bus line, the white-haired boy was there.

Whenever Jamie was shocked and/or horrified and/or disgusted by another passenger (that time a teenaged goth boy sprawled over three seats and refused to give one to a senior, the time a different senior whacked some person’s hand with his cane “by accident,” one particularly horrifying trip when a couple practically had clothed sex _right in front of him for heaven’s sake he was thirteen and not even the youngest person on board_ , the far-less-traumatizing day when the bus driver just… let a crow board), he made eye contact with the white-haired boy and traded wtf expressions. At first it was accidental. Eventually Jamie got so used to the boy always being there, always sharing in Jamie’s surprise and horror, that it wasn’t by accident anymore.

He had a weird wtf-look-sharing friendship with a boy he only ever saw on the bus and whose name he didn’t even know. Yeah. At least he wasn’t doing drugs, Mom!

(Like he would ever tell his mother about this.)

* * *

The day It happened, Jamie was scratching down notes from her new cryptid book and periodically licking her lips for the lip gloss flavor. (Did she mention she was genderfluid? Yeah, there was a reason she went by Jamie instead of Jimmy.) She’d been taking this bus nearly every day for six months now, and her weird pseudo-friendship with White-Haired Wtf Guy was going strong.

But just right now she was minding her own business, engrossed in her book. (Did she mention Cupcake was the best? Because she was.)

Some guy clomped on the bus, wearing heavy combat boots, and practically made a beeline for the empty seat next to White-Haired Wtf Guy. The surprising speed made Jamie look up and glance around, and immediately it looked even weirder because there were plenty of empty seats around.

The guy sat down next to White-Haired Wtf Guy and slung an arm over the back of White-Haired Wtf Guy’s seat. Their knees were touching, and the new guy leaned in really close to murmur in White-Haired Wtf Guy’s ear.

Oh. That explained that, then.

Jamie went back to her book.

More quiet murmurs filtered in through Jamie’s ears, but the volume was low and she didn’t pay much attention. The new guy was clearly into PDA, possibly possessive, and she didn’t really want to get in the middle of that. Even if a thirteen-year-old AMAB kid wasn’t much of a threat to him. So she really wasn’t sure what made her look up again, glancing at White-Haired Wtf Guy.

He was trying to edge away from the new guy, his eyes glancing over the other passengers desperately, his face a mask of uncomfortable pleading, and Jamie realized that she was going to have to get in the middle of this after all.

So she decided to milk her middle school theater lessons for all she could, haphazardly shoving her book and notebook in her backpack with a weird little delighted yelpy, squealy noise. Her voice broke towards the end and it rocketed high, turning into a true squeak.

“Mason, Mason, hi!” she said, latching onto the very first boy’s name she could think of. “I didn’t see you there, come sit with me!”

And she waved White-Haired Wtf Guy over, enthusiastically patting the seat beside her, which was helpfully right next to the metal wall of the bus.

He grabbed her offer like it was salvation from on high, slipping out of the creep’s curved body and crossing the aisle with his sketchbook clutched to his chest. “Hi, uh, Justin,” he says, just loud enough for Combat Boots Creep to hear him and clearly using the first boy’s name he could think of too. Jamie tried not to let it bother her – despite the lip gloss, she was still presenting as a boy and she knew it – but it didn’t quite work.

She didn’t let her smile fade. “I haven’t seen you in so long, where’ve you been?”

He sat down in the offered seat and smiled awkwardly at her. “Oh, um, you know, around.” Then, in a lower voice that Combat Boots Creep probably wouldn’t hear, he added, “I’m actually Jack, so you know.”

Jamie couldn’t help but grin, bright and genuine. “Jamie. Sorry, but you looked really desperate.”

“I bet I did. Thanks for, uh, seeing me.” He rubbed his arms through his blue hoodie, the sketchbook wedged between his legs. His eyes glanced up, towards Combat Boots Creep, and Jamie followed. Combat Boots Creep looked pissed, and Jamie couldn’t help but stick her tongue out.

Jack snorted. “That’s really not helping.”

She turned back to him with a wry smile. “Probably not, but he’s asking for it.” Her smile fell away as she asked, “So, uh… does that happen often?”

Jack wrinkled his nose and hesitated before he answered. “It… used to. Not so much after I got, you know, a binder. Even less once I started T.”

Jamie’s eyes went wide. “Wait, you’re transitioning? Have transitioned? Something like that? I’m _so_ jealous.”

Jack’s hesitation seemed to melt away. He smiled, properly, not tinged with sadness or that special brand of shocked-wtf that Jamie knew so well by now. “You’ll get there,” he said, patting her knee. “I was gonna ask your pronouns? I don’t know a lot of cis boys who go by that anymore.”

“Ugh,” Jamie grumbled. Out of the corner of her eye, Combat Boots Creep skulked towards the back of the bus. “I’m genderfluid, right now she and her is okay. So hey, I’ve been wondering, what do you draw?” She elbowed Jack gently in the ribs.

Jack grinned, looking genuinely excited for the first time that Jamie’d known him. He flipped his sketchbook open and Jamie’s jaw dropped open.

The page was absolutely _filled_ with fractal art.

“I… wow,” she breathed. “How do you even get lines that straight without a ruler? Let alone on a moving bus?”

Jack snorted. “I didn’t do this one on the bus, let me assure you,” he said dryly. “This was mostly in line waiting for my number to get called at the DMV. Trying to get a driver’s license so I can vote,” he elaborated at Jamie’s curious look. “It’s still taking forever. Anyway, no, no ruler, just me and my pencil. I’ve always been able to draw straight lines.”

He flipped the page and the next one was covered with more fractal art, this one full of gentle curves. The next page flip showed a design all colored in, icy blues and pale purples and light sea greens spread over what looked like a fern design, or maybe frost on old car windows. Jamie sighed.

“The most artistic thing I can do is theater,” she muttered.

“Hey, don’t knock it. It just saved my sanity back there,” Jack joked. It kind of fell flat, as they both turned and leaned forward to see where Combat Boots Creep was.

After a few seconds, Jack flopped back against his seat again. “So what do you do on the bus?”

Jamie tore her eyes away from the back of the bus, from trying to divine Combat Boots Creep’s location, and leaned back herself. “Usually I bring books, sometimes take notes from them. Sometimes homework, but not often. Sometimes I can sweet talk Mom into letting me bring the tablet.” She shrugged. “Depends on the day. Today it’s notetaking from this.” She pulled out her cryptid book and showed Jack the cover.

Jack wrinkled his nose at her. “Ugh, taking notes? That’s so disgustingly studious!”

“Trust me, I only take notes from cryptid books,” Jamie informed him haughtily. They both laughed.

Jamie slid her book back into her backpack and asked Jack another question. The book didn’t come out until she was on the bus home again.

Before she got off at her stop, though, she got a trans-bros fist bump from Jack.

* * *

The next day when Jamie got on the bus, he grinned at Jack but took his usual seat. Jack got up and sat next to him, with a shy, almost uncertain smile.

Jamie beamed back and held out his hand to shake. “Jamie, he and his today,” he said.

Jack shook it. “Jack, he and his every day.”

Jamie laughed and made a fist for a fist bump.

* * *

Curiously, Jamie’s bus rides drastically fell in productivity after that.


End file.
